Pharma Giant AstraZeneca Urged Not To Send 100s Of Beagles To The Lab By NAVS
11 years ago
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18th February, 2013 11h56
The National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) is calling on global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to release for rehoming hundreds of beagles that are destined to be used for cruel and painful experiments at their labs in Cheshire and Mölndal.
NAVS Chief Executive Jan Creamer: “Time is running out for these gentle, loving dogs whose lives now hang in the balance. Instead of using these animals for unreliable and unjustified research, we urge AstraZeneca to have a change of heart and support progressive alternatives. Dogs are physiologically different to us and the results from tests on them cannot accurately predict what the reaction will be in humans.”
The beagles are currently housed at kennels earmarked for closure near Örkelljungain in Sweden. Eighty of the dogs have already been trucked out of the kennels – in three separate consignments on 7 January, 26 January and 8 February – with 30 of the dogs arriving in the UK via Manchester airport, and 50 sent to AstraZeneca’s research facility in Mölndal.
The beagles will be used, according to AstraZeneca’s online Q&A “Primarily, in research related to the cardiovascular area (e.g. atherosclerosis and diabetes), respiratory diseases (e.g. asthma and COPD), plus inflammatory diseases (e.g. rheumatism).”
The NAVS has previously called on the Prime Minister, David Cameron, to intervene and, earlier this month, a joint letter from 20 organisations was sent to senior management of AstraZeneca calling on them to show their commitment to the replacement and reduction of animal experiments and support new European legislation which states that its “final goal” is the “full replacement of procedures on live animals for scientific and educational purposes”. No response to our letter has been received to date.
The Laboratory Animal Science Association Guidance on the Rehoming of Laboratory Dogs states “establishments have successfully rehomed laboratory dogs over many years” and eighty of the dogs have already been rehomed with AstraZeneca employees.
Jan Creamer: “Having saved six beagles from a lifetime of suffering in the lab, the NAVS know what excellent companions these dogs make. It is unbearable to think what horror awaits these poor animals at the hands of AstraZeneca staff if they are not released for rehoming.”
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